Routines
Doing things badly on purpose
The standard that stops something happening is usually the standard you set, not the one anyone requires.
The points below about lowering the bar deliberately are ordered by how much difference they make, not by how often they get repeated.
What matters most
- A high bar is the most common reason a useful habit never starts.
- Deliberately choosing a low standard makes starting cheap.
- Quality tends to rise on its own once the habit exists.
The bar is the obstacle
People frequently do nothing because the version they have in mind requires an hour, equipment or energy they do not have. The choice is not between the good version and the poor version; it is between the poor version and nothing. Naming that explicitly changes the decision.
The version in mind is usually somebody else's as well, assembled from what people choose to post rather than from what anyone actually manages on an ordinary Tuesday.
Choose the small version in advance
Deciding beforehand that a walk means ten minutes, or that tidying means one surface, removes the negotiation. It also removes the sense of failure attached to doing less than intended.
The habit forms around the small version and expands afterwards if it wants to. Writing that definition down somewhere visible matters more than it sounds, because the ambitious version reasserts itself the moment the wording is left vague.
Perfectionism is usually avoidance
A standard that makes a task impossible to start is functioning as a reason not to start it. This is worth noticing without self-criticism, because the mechanism is common and not a character flaw. Lowering the standard is often the only intervention required.
Where lowering it changes nothing and the avoidance holds, the obstacle is generally not the standard, and that is worth working through with someone rather than by trying harder.
Consistency raises quality on its own
Doing something badly ten times produces more improvement than doing it well once. Skills develop from repetition rather than from the quality of any individual attempt.
This is obvious for learning an instrument and is resisted for cooking, exercise and writing. Improvement also arrives in steps rather than smoothly, which makes several weeks of nothing visible the normal shape of learning rather than evidence of doing it wrong.
Where the bar should stay high
Anything involving safety, other people's wellbeing or irreversible consequences is not a candidate for the small version. The technique applies to personal habits and to work with recoverable failure.
Being clear which category something is in prevents the idea being misapplied. Medication, driving, childcare and anything a professional has to sign off sit firmly in the first category, and no amount of habit theory moves them out of it.
Adjust the size of it until it is something you would actually do tired.
The small version inflates on its own
The ten-minute walk becomes twenty, the one surface becomes the whole room, and then it is a thing that needs time found for it. That creep is a sign the habit is working and is also the most common way it dies, because the standard has quietly moved back up.
Holding the stated minimum fixed while letting any individual session run long keeps the entry point cheap. What is being protected is the size of the decision, not the size of the activity.
Everything above, in order of what to do first
- The bar is the obstacle. People frequently do nothing because the version they have in mind requires an hour, equipment or energy they do not have.
- Choose the small version in advance. Deciding beforehand that a walk means ten minutes, or that tidying means one surface, removes the negotiation.
- Perfectionism is usually avoidance. A standard that makes a task impossible to start is functioning as a reason not to start it.
- Consistency raises quality on its own. Doing something badly ten times produces more improvement than doing it well once.
- Where the bar should stay high. Anything involving safety, other people's wellbeing or irreversible consequences is not a candidate for the small version.
- The small version inflates on its own. The ten-minute walk becomes twenty, the one surface becomes the whole room, and then it is a thing that needs time found for it.
The takeaway
Pick a version so small it feels not worth doing. That is the one that happens.
The version you keep doing is the version that works.
Questions readers ask
Does this not just produce sloppy work?
For a habit you would otherwise not start, the comparison is against nothing rather than against excellence. For work with consequences, hold the standard.
How small is small enough?
Small enough that you would do it on your worst day without negotiating. If you are debating it, it is still too big.
